people who are trying to profit off of you giving up. it's going to be hard to vote this year in a lot of places where it's most important thaw vote. your country needs you to stick it out no matter who you are voting for, your country needs you to do it. that does it for us tonight. rebuilding efforts are barely getting off the ground. a good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz.

very good morning to you. i'm veroni oonica de la cruz. the latest polls show this is a neck and neck race accord together final pre-election nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, 48% of likely voters support president obama while close 47% favor governor mitt romney. the president holds the same narrow 48% to 47% edge among likely voters in virginia. mr. obama holds a slightly wider lead in florida with support from 49% of likely voters compared to romney's 47%. and an all-important ohio, our poll shows president obama holds a six-point lead over his republican rival with 51% to romney's 45%. nbc's tracie potts is in cincinnati, ohio with details on the candidate's final frantic day of campaigning. good morning to you. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. good morning, everyone.

in ohio we are seeing that residents here are watching those polls. they know what the nation is saying about ohio. they are keenly wear of the importance of their vote and they're willing to stand in line for hours just to get a ballot. in cincinnati, the only line for early voting sunday wrapped around a whole city block. the wait, three hours. we found tony wilson at the back of the line. >> if you don't get it in, you can't complain later. you have to do your part. >> reporter: hamilton's county election administrator tells us they processed 22,000 voters, almost as many as 2008. >> as long as they're in line by the cutoff time they get a chance to vote. >> reporter: sara drove home five hours from pittsburgh just to vote. >> because we're a swing state and it's really important we get all the democratic votes that we can. >> reporter: across town, president obama continued his star-studded tour across ohio. >> governor romney's been having

a tough time here in ohio because everybody knows he was against saving the auto industry. you don't scare people, just to scare up some votes. >> reporter: our latest nbc news/"wall street urnal" poll says this race is a dead heat. reuters reports similar margins in florida, virginia, colorado and ohio. governor romney is now focusing on pennsylvania, a state that hasn't voted republican in 20 years. >> i can't wait for us to get started. he's hoping we'll set. americans don't settle. we build, we aspire, we dream. we listen to that voice that says we can do better. >> reporter: and so in this election, we are seeing it now, all roads lead through ohio and that's why. we'll see both presidential candidates back here in the buckeye state in their final day of campaigning. >> thank you, tracie potts in

cincinnati. voters lined up to cast absentee ballots after being cut off from the early voting deadline saturday. we explain what happened there. >> reporter: frustrated voters, outside the miami/dade election office they had come after the county announced it would open its doors to provide and accept absentee ballots. but so many voters showed up that election officials were overwhelm. they shut the doors, then decided to re-open. the democratic party sued to extend early voting after some voters were stuck in lines for hours. >> i'm a little bit upset. you have five hours now. >> reporter: election officials are bracing for lots of potential voting problems on tuesday, especially in the key battleground states. in ohio, experts say that because of confusion over new absentee ballot rules, more than 200,000 voters may be forced to cast provisional ballots that

won't be counted until ten days after election day. >> there's a realistic chance that we will not know which candidate won the presidential election in ohio. >> reporter: another big wild card, citizen groups like true the vote, a tea party offshoot that says it trained nearly a million poll watchers to be on lookout for voter fraud. liberal activist groups saying they are deploying their own watchers. >> we will make sure they are not acting as bullies. >> reporter: hurricane sandy's devastation has swamped election plans in the northeast. new jersey officials faced with flooded polling stations and power outages are besieged. >> obviously the timing of the storm was horrible for us. it's affecting people's ability to get to the polls. >> reporter: the state announced it will let voters e-mail or fax their ballots in and military

trucks may be deployed as backup polling stations. >> that was nbc's michael isikoff reporting there. the world will be closely watching our presidential election tomorrow. there is intense interest in the man americans choose and how his policies will affect other nations. nbc's michelle kosinski is in london with the latest. good morning to you. >> reporter: the american election has been on the front pages of many international papers. it's been remarkable how much people around the world have been paying attention to virtually every detail, even leading up to it the election. we had our teams fan out across seven countries in europe and asia where people said yb we yb absolutely, we see this election at this time as hugely important to our lives and the things that we care about. analysts say there's no equivalent that americans don't have the feeling of looking up to another power as a source of growth and stability for themselves. when you look at nations in transition like afghanistan and

egypt, people there say they're concerned more about continuity and aid. they have worries about what getting to know a new administration would mean for them. in europe, it's about economic growth. in fact, a poll was done across europe showed 75% of europeans would choose obama, in places like germany, 92%. if you look at israel, say, the landslide there if the election happened there would be romney's. there's been a lot of support for him after he visited and he's expressed vocal support for any potential israeli action against iran's nuclear facilities. veroni veronica? >> interesting. michelle kosinski, we appreciate it. msnbc will have special edesk day coverage throughout the day tomorrow. we'll bring you the best primetime coverage at 6:00 eastern with rachel maddow and chris matthews. and now for a look at the weather and that nor'easter

that's headed our way. nbc meteorologist bill karins is down in democracy plaza for us. he got the good assignment this morning. >> good monday morning. a beautiful scene down here. this is the place to be of course as we go throughout tuesday night. behind me you can see the tall building here at 30 rock, the ice rink. i again, 270, the magic number will be displayed live on the building as we go throughout tuesday night. if you're interested in weather and the recovery, we're worried about what's going to happen with this potential nor'easter the next couple days. it will take a typical path for a nor'easter with rain mostly through the southeast and to the middle of the country. as it goes to the east coast, that's when the problems will arise. let me take you through the weather maps. as far as the worst of it as we go up the eastern seaboard. i'm not thinking this is going to be as bad as sandy. it will be a strong storm but as

far as the real damage potential, i think it will be the battering waves. we're not going to see a storm surge like last time or flood the subways. the fact that we still have properties that are dangling and barely holing on at the coast, those are the ones i'm worried about and we could get significant snow in the mountains of new england down through the poconos. that could cause additional power outages with the heavy, wet snow and the gusty winds. the bottom line for election day, rain in the southeast, everyone should be able to get to the polls. wednesday night and thursday we'll deal with the storm in the northeast. >> we just don't need it right now in the northeast. >> yes with one less day of recovery. the iconic rockefeller plaza for this year's presidential election. it looks great, it's interactive, state of the art and the place to watch the electoral votes be counted for president of the united states. check it out online, you can head to the web. if you're in the new york area,

be sure to come down to democracy plaza, right here in rockefeller center. major updates on the recovery efforts for those in hurricane sandy's path. one of the most active predictors of presidential politics dating back to 1900 has precisely picked the winner over 89% of the time. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] with swiffer dusters, a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm gonna read one of these. i'm gonna read one of these!

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welcome back. turning to sandy, at least 111 people confirmed dead in the wake of the storm. power continues to be restored to millions after it went down one week ago. andrew cuomo says the fuel shortage that has led to long lines and frayed nerves could go on for days. he warns those taking mass transit can expect more company as people return to work and students return to school. any banks that waived fees for storm victims says they will extend the breaks until

wednesday. and the massive crane that's been dangling over the side of a new york city high-rise has now been secured. that means people living and working near the site will finally be allowed to return. viewers of our nbc universal telethon special hurricane sandy, coming together, donated nearly $23 million to the american red cross friday night. it was the highest number of donations made by phone, techt and online to the red cross in five years. if you would like to make a donation or find out more information, head to the web, check out nbc news.com. more than 1,000 runners who lost out on their chance to run in this year's new york city marathon joined together in a different kind of race on sunday to help those hardest hit by sandy. they traveled on the same ferry that would have stayen them to statin island delivering desperately needed supplies like water, toilet paper and ready to eat meals.

president obama was interrupted for two full minutes during his appearance by back-to-back hecklers. one of whom could be seen struggling with police. after a second protesters disrupted the event, the president diffused the situation with a little sunday football smackdown. >> these might have been some tennessee titans fans who are mad about the bears beating them really badly today. >> on this last full day of campaigning, the president heads to wisconsin, back to ohio and then iowa. vice president biden is in virginia. governor romney begins in florida, then it's on to virginia, ohio, finally, new hampshire. paul ryan heads to nevada, colorado, ohio and wisconsin. all right. take a look at this. yes, that is new jersey governor chris christie greeting homeland security chief as the pair toured a relief center in hoboken sunday. christie last sun said he didn't

give a damn about the presidential election as he dealt with the disaster. on sunday he laughed at the notion that he wasn't still loyal to mitt romney. >> i don't understand why telling the president of the united states he's done a good job when he's done a good job equals an endorsement. fact of matter is, mitt romney knows this, by the way, so does the president of the united states. i endorsed mitt romney 13 months ago because i thought he was the best guy for the job. on tuesday i'm voting for mitt romney because i think he's the best guy for the job. it doesn't mean i can't turn to the president of the united states of america and say to him, thank you, sir, for providing good leadership in this crisis and helping the people of new jersey and extend my hand of friendship to him. this shows you how broken our political system is. >> there you go. until we know the outcome of the presidential election, there could be a lot of sitting on the sidelines on wall street. still earnings season marches on. news corp., jcpenney and walt disney deliver quarterlies this week. this morning, toyota raises

profit forecasts thank ins in parts to rising sales of its prius hybrid. gasoline dropped nearly 22 cents in the past two weeks to an average of $3.55 a gallon. anheuser-busch converted one of the lines in its cartersville, georgia plan the to can water instead of beer to be shipped to sandy's victims. pepsico and walmart have stepped up with be i don't donating truck loads of food, drinks and supplies. finally from sports to astrology to 7-eleven drinkers, coffee drinkers that is, everyone has their favorite election prediction method. here's one that's based on the stock market. one investment researcher says the direction of stock prices two months prior to the election has accurately predicted the winner 89.3% of the time since 1900. markets were up in september but they were done in october. a bionic climber and iconic african, plus another

presidential predictor. a win or loss by the washington redskins on their final game before election game has accurately predicted the presidency in 17 of the past 18 elections. we'll have the details, next. [ female announcer ] you can measure the growth of children

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on what caused the crash of an atlanta police helicopter saturday night, killing two officers. the chopper was searching for a runaway boy when it hit a power line pole and crashed to the street. the accidental death of a 2-year-old boy at the pittsburgh zoo yesterday was horrific. the boy dued when he fell 11 feet off a railing into an exhibit and he was mulled by wild dogs. milt campbell, the first african-american to win a medal has died. he won that medal in melbourne, australia. mark kirk of illinois wore a brace on his left leg as he climbed 37 floors in the sky rise chicago charity event. it was the senator's first public appearance since suffering a major stroke in january. and the 31-year-old amputee climbed all 103 flights of stairs in the same charity fund-raiser.

zack was testing a high-tech experimental bionic leg controlled by his mind. absolutely incredible. in sports now, atlanta is still the only undefeated team in the nfl. the falcons scored a fourth quarter touchdown, later kicked a field goal and held off the dallas cowboys to wrap up their eighth win, 19-13. colts quarterback andrew luck set an nfl rookie record of 433 yards passing with 2 touchdowns. as indianapolis beat miami 23-20. and the washington redskins lost their last home game before the election to the carolina panthers, 21-13. the so-called redskins rule prediction might mean that mitt romney will be elected president. the redskins prediction has been correct 17 out of 18 times. college football, alabama held on to the top spot in the bcs standing after pulling out a win over lsu, kansas state is number two, followed by oregon,

notre dame and georgia. it is time now for another look at the weather. here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. how is your fantasy football team doing, bill? >> we're holing on by a thread, veronica. holding on by a thread. good morning, everyone. of course the big news in the weather has been the aftermath of sandy and what haed and the restoration efforts and the fact that we could have another storm on the hinge of this. let me get into the forecast map as we go into election day and take that storm up the coast. right now starting monday, as we go through the middle of the country, we have the rain and the storm. swings to the southeast. for election day, the best chance of rain will be down in the carolinas late in the day but especially down through south carolina and georgia. as we go throughout wednesday as we talk about the nor'easter, that's when we'll be watching the worst of the weather effects from the jersey shore, mafl, delaware and up to new york. we could have 60 mile per hour win gusts, battering waves on properties that are already sitting there with no dune protection. that's the biggest concern. we'll have additional power

outages with be too. the power crews are already in place. it could be another couple days until we recover from this one. >> not good news. >> i know, horrible. >> bill karins, thank you so much. just ahead, "saturday night live" lightens the mood after superstorm sandy. plus, please share photos that you've been taking of your election experience. use #msnbc2012. we might just show them on air or online. ♪ ♪

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welcome back. it is time now for entertainment news. disney's "wreck-it ralph" took the first weekend of the holiday box office season with a $49 million debut, a record opening for a disney animated film.

actor don cusack plans to play rush limbaugh in a biopic next year. if you missed "snl," take a look at their rendition of mayor bloomberg and his enthusiastic interpreter. >> sign language translator lydia callis who brought some pizazz to what would have otherwise been a dire occasion. i turn it over to new jersey governor chris christie. >> hello! hello! enough. hello, i'm governor chris christie and this is my interpreter roxy. things are bad, okay, they're bad. but we're new jersey, all right? we're going to be fine. we don't get sad in new jersey.

we get even. so sleep with one eye open, sandy. >> i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tune. "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. well, after about a year and a half of campaigning, we are one day away from election day. president obama and mitt romney making their closing arguments before turning the case over to the jury. the question is, who has the slight advantage as of this morning? we'll talk live in a moment to mark halperin. meanwhile, the struggle continues for families digging through the rubble of their homes here in new york and down the coast in new jersey. the question is, with tell temperatures dropping near freezing, are our neighbors being taken care of well enough? the new york giants along with nfl commissioner roger goodell paying tribute to the victims of the storm and those who jumped in quickly